Nachtangst

There was a time, the old wives whisper, when the dead did not walk, when wolves did not talk, and when nightmares were bound in the human skull. A time when the walls of our world – the unclimbable, fog-shrouded peaks of the Grenzgebirge – did not trap us like animals in a cage. A time when reason triumphed over madness, when the laws of kings and providence still held sway.

There are remnants of this world, or something like it – the ruins of a saner and more civilized age. But the world as we know it now shares little in common with that bygone era. Those few villages and towns that resist the rule of the Blood Princes of Schreckenburg are heavily fortified, warded with holy symbols to keep out the creatures that prowl beyond their walls – the Lesser and Greater Risen, the remains of those who die with unshriven souls on profane earth; hags and their spawn; druden on their Wild Hunts; and countless other things which have no names.

Few venture beyond the icon-studded walls of the havens, these days. A handful of crazed or greedy merchants, travelling in heavily armoured caravans, move from town to town selling goods, but most who dwell in the shifting wilderness are criminals, outcast from human company, grown feral in the haunted woods. And, of course, there are those mad, hard-bitten souls who sell their services to those in need – the Jäger, Huntsmen and Huntswomen, who haunt the wilds and fight the forces of darkness with sword and pistol…

Alptraum is the setting for the game of Fate I will be running for sparkletwist, since she was gracious enough to run some OD&D.

The game set in a strange corner of a place vaguely resembling parts of the Habsburg Empire, but in which the boundary between waking life and the collective unconscious has somehow been breached – all of the folktales, anxieties, phobias, and nightmares of those who dwell in Schreckenburg and surrounds have been made horrifyingly real, and the land is now misruled by a strange, oneiric logic owing more to the world of fairy-tales and myth than to reality as we know it. Those places not openly ruled by vampire lords or werewolf clans are lawless wilderness, dotted by a sparse handful of human settlements bristling with holy magic that barely keeps the monsters at bay. Beyond these refuges the landscape is one of Gothic post-apocalypse, a twisted, dark fantasy dreamscape that feels a bit like 19th century Austria and a bit like something out of a Brother’s Grimm story or the writings of Angela Carter. Our heroes in this haunted, hallucinatory land are the Jäger, mercenary nightmare-hunters who roam the world protecting those few remaining souls from the forces of madness and unreason.

Issues

The Blood Princes and Princesses: The vampiric aristocrats of Schreckenburg want to conquer the remaining human settlements and claim their inhabitants as serfs, to be sucked dry as they please.

Nightmare-Haunted: Any fear, anxiety, or folk-story in the mind of an inhabitant of Schreckenburg has a chance of manifesting in reality.

Towns and Cities

Knochendorf: The village of Knochendorf is now mostly-abandoned, and those who remain live in terror of something which dwells in the bowels of the mining tunnels that once made the village its fortune. The local region suffers from tremors, and strange sounds can be heard echoing from the depths of the mines at night. The owners of the mine, the Hundhammer family, have become decadent and reclusive, hiding themselves in their crumbling estate and brooding over the dwindling remnants of their fortune.

Hungrigfeld: The farming community of Hungrigfeld is renowned for its unusually rich crops, spared from the ravages of blights and droughts. The village celebrates numerous seasonal festivals for planting and harvesting which contribute to its cheerful regional character. How exactly the folk of Hungrigfeld have managed to maintain such a seemingly happy existence in this world of nightmares is something of a mystery.

Graukirchen: Little now remains of the Grey Church, whose ecclesiastical presence was once spread throughout Schreckenburg, and whose ruinous monasteries and abandoned grottos litter the countryside. Graukirchen is the desiccated heart of this once-great religion, a cathedral-town of spires and vast graveyards and endless catacombs. Its clerical denizens are by turns dour or drunken according to the dispositions of the archaic calendar of saints to whose strange dictums they unyieldingly abide.

Wurmhaven: The town of Wurmhaven clings to the Schlange, a dark river whose coils wind their way through Schreckenburg. A gathering-place for mercenaries, thieves, scoundrels, and cutthroats, the place is little more than a collection of taverns and brothels, the myriad drinking holes and vice-dens of the realm’s most scrofulous and unrepentant sinners. Necromancers are common in Wurmhaven as well, and can often be found fishing fresh corpses from the river at sunrise for use in their black magic.

Grünehagen: A village on the edge of the Grimmwald, Grünehagen is a town of woodsmen and hunters. Each day the woodcutters of the town must fell the trees that cluster round the walls and press against windows, and each night the trees regrow at a spectacular rate – or else, new trees move to replace their fallen fellows. Some of those who dwell beyond the confines of Grünehagen proper are said to traffic with many of the Erlkönig’s servants, the Elben of the nearby woods, or even to bear the eldritch blood of those fairy folk.

Schädelbrück: The university town of Schädelbrück contains one of the few remaining centres of learning in Schreckenburg, though its libraries have become crazed and disorganized, and much of its store of knowledge lost or fragmented. Those scholars who persevere in the spires and chambers of the university have devoted themselves to unusual experiments both physical and metaphysical, often involving strange rituals unearthed from the mouldering archives, or ramshackle machines created by the eccentric natural philosophers, alchemists, and occultists who flock to the place.

Lupény: At the edges of the Wolsfwald is the village of Lupény, a frost-bitten settlement of fur-traders and hardy foresters. An all-female organization of Jäger, the Order of the Crimson Cowl, are based in Lupény, training extensively in use of the crossbow, wooden stake, axe, and pistol, and studying the strengths and weaknesses of the Alptraum’s minions.

Schwarzstadt: The last free city of Schreckenburg, Schwarzstadt, the Black City, is half a ruin. Between the warded districts where pockets of men and women live and work, the streets are haunted by feral revenants, dhampir gangs, packs of druden, and other nightmares-made-flesh. The streets and architecture warp and mutate according to their own oneiric illogic. Despite the dangers of these lawless zones, the city has managed to survive and even prosper under the loose rule of the Dawn League. The many Hansa who travel the land selling goods are mostly based in Schwarzstadt. Naturally, the Blood Princes and Princesses are forever scheming to add the Black City to their holdings.

Bluthausen: Surrounded by the eerie Bloodwood, Bluthausen is the largest city in Schreckenburg, ruled by the Blood Countess, Elisabet Mordstein. A place of decadent splendour, sensuous carnage, and endless horror, Bluthausen is shrouded permanently by darkness, and vampir openly walk the streets. Mortals are but chattel and are hunted for sport in the forest; dhampir are second-class citizens. The city itself is a fell labyrinth echoing with the wails, sighs, and shrieks of vile debaucheries. The gates are guarded by massive Nachtkrapp, who feast on the flesh of children.

Hexenheim: The cold, grim city of Hexenheim is ruled by the Witch Queen, Hulda, called Old Mother Frost. The city is unfathomably ancient, with buildings of pale, primordial stone, thousands of years older than the other towns and villages of Schreckenburg. Those who dwell in the city seem content enough, though many claim such folk are all bewitched, or that they are walking corpses ensorcelled to seem alive. Hulda and the various vampir lords of the land usually exist in a state of uneasy truce.

Regions

Blutwald: The Blutwald (Bloodwood) is one of the Three Terrible Forests of Schrekenburg, a twisted woodland where aristocratic vampir hunt mortal prey from astride red-eyed horses, where the trees bear crimson fruit, and where the branches overhead are thick enough to blot out even the brightest sun.

Grimmwald: The Grimmwald is the home of the Erlkönig and his fairy servants, the Elben and other fair folk of Schreckenburg. A mysterious place of enchanted streams, forgotten glades, and mischievous paths prone to shifting and changing, the Grimmwald is the favoured haunt of witches and druden as well as the Elben. It is never the same twice, but always perilous.

Wolfswald: Werewolf tribes dwell in the cold forest aptly known as the Wolfswald in the far north of Schreckenburg, near to the icy city of Hexenheim. Those few villages near the borders of the forest of firs are heavily warded with Wolfssegen, charms said to deter the vicious creatures who terrorize the local countryside.

The Grenzgebirge: The Grenzgebirge are a series of jagged mountains surrounding Schreckenburg on all sides. These fog-shrouded peaks extend to almost impossible heights, and though explorers and climbers have penetrated deep into the range, none have ever returned from journeys to the other side. Partly this is due to the presence of bloodthirsty giant-clans and other menaces found in the clouded heights.

The Sümpfe: The marshlands known simply as the Sümpfe are an eerie, pathless region of ever-dissolving islands, unnervingly whispering willow-trees, strange, malignant fungi, and rustling things half-glimpsed in the miasmatic murk that forever cloys about the wetlands, dispelled only by the soughing winds that periodically moan throughout the swamp like the breathing of some vast and otherworldly being. The lurching creatures which periodically dredge themselves from the elemental muck of the Sümpfe obey neither the Erlkönig nor the Greater Risen.

Schattenland: The tenebrous plains of Schattenland are a grim expanse of rain-drenched moors and fields dotted with dark lakes and treacherous bogs. Something about the bleak openness of Schattenland induces a paranoia and agoraphobia just as intense as the fearful sense of closeness one experiences in Schreckenburg’s dense forests. Schattenland is renowned for its Freischützen (“Freeshooters”) – gunfighters said to have contracted with demons of the Alptraum, receiving unerringly accurate, infernal bullets in exchange for the performance of certain dark deeds.

Character Creation

Character creation for Alptraum follows Fate Core closely.

1) Determine your character’s high concept aspect. High concepts sum up the character quickly, communicating their role in the world, such as Deranged Nightmare-Worshipper, Grizzled Gun-toting Wolf-slayer, or Princess from the Tower of Dread. Pick a name for your character at around this point – vaguely Central/Eastern/Northern European names are recommended, but not required.

2) Next, determine your character’s trouble aspect. Trouble refers to some unpleasant impulse, dark stain on your character’s past, or hidden shame, such as Abandoned Her Children in the Woods, Hunted by Her Husband, the Count, or Itinerant Opium Fiend.

3) Select one to three additional aspects for your character. It is recommended to pick one aspect related to the character's most primal fear – a phobia, repressed anxiety, or other form of fundamental dread. It might be something concrete like Terrified of Spiders, Nyctophobic, or Horror at Being Eaten Alive. Alternatively, it might be something as deep-seated, abstract, or unconscious as Fearful of the Ur-Mutter’s Archaic Seductions, Overactive Castration Anxiety, or Pronounced Dread of Liminality.

Other aspects might relate to whatever led your character to a life of adventure, whether the character is a Jäger or some other form of reckless freelancer - this could be something dramatic like My Family Were Slaughtered by Werewolves, or more banal, like Need Money for Laudanum - or which relates your character to an existing character. However, you shouldn't feel constrained by these suggestions.

6) Pick and rate your character’s skills (see below). You have 20 skill points, but cannot have more skills at a certain rank than you have in the rank below it - so if you have two skills at +3, you need to have at least two skills at +2 and at least two skills at +1. At character creation the skill cap is +4.

7) Pick three to five stunts (see below).

8) Determine how many fate points you start play with. If you picked three stunts, you start with a refresh of 3, starting each session with at least 3 fate points. If you pick four stunts, your refresh is 2. If you pick five stunts, your refresh is 1.

9) Determine your stress tracks and consequence slots. By default a character has two boxes in both their physical and their mental stress tracks and three consequence slots (mild, moderate, and severe), but skills and stunts can modify these defaults.

10) Select two items of Special Equipment, plus any bonuses for Wealth.

Wits – Intuition and being aware of your surroundings. Used for determining initiative.

Stunts

Always Making Useful Things (Crafts) – You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you have the proper tools for a particular job using Crafts, even in extreme situations (like being imprisoned and separated from all your stuff). This source of opposition is just off the table.

Always a Way Out (Stealth) – +2 on Stealth rolls made to create an advantage whenever you’re trying to escape from a location.

Avalanche of Jargon (Occultism) – You can use Occultism in place of Deceive as long as the lies are about esoteric topics and at least partially factual.

Brawler (Physique) – You can use Physique instead of Fight to make unarmed melee attacks.

Called Shot (Shoot) – During a Shoot attack, spend a fate point and declare a specific condition you want to inflict on a target, like Shot in the Hand. If you succeed, you place that as a situation aspect on them in addition to hitting them for stress.

The Power of Deduction (Observe) – Once per scene you can spend a fate point (and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Observe roll representing your potent deductive faculties. For each shift you make on this roll you discover or create an aspect, on either the scene or the target of your observations, though you may only invoke one of them for free.

Quick on the Draw (Shoot) – You can use Shoot instead of Wits to determine turn order in any physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.

Slippery Target (Stealth) – Provided you’re in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth to defend against Shoot attacks from enemies that are at least one zone away.

Sprinter (Athletics) – You can move up to two zones for free in a conflict, or three by taking a -1 penalty on your standard action. If you spend your whole turn to move, you get a +2 bonus on any Athletics rolls you need to make.

Spur (Ride) – You can coax more speed out of your mount than seems possible. Whenever you’re engaged in any contest where speed is the primary factor (such as a chase or race of some kind) and you tie with your Ride roll, it’s considered a success.

Strength of Spirit (Faith) – Use Faith instead of Physique on any overcome rolls representing feats of strength.

Suffer Not a Witch to Live (Faith) – Use Faith instead of Fight on any attack rolls against witches or warlocks.

Uncanny Accuracy (Shoot) – Once per conflict, stack an additional free invoke on an advantage you’ve created to represent the time you take to aim or line up a shot (like In My Sights).

Vigilant (Wits) – You get +2 on Wits rolls made to determine initiative in combat.

Wall of Death (Fight) – When attacking with the Fight skill, you can make two attacks with half your normal bonus against different enemies, instead of one at your full bonus.

Credit to sparkletwist for several of the above stunts.

Special Equipment - Extras

All starting Jäger are assumed to possess whatever mundane weapons, armour, and adventuring equipment they need; players should note which weapons their character possesses, but need not keep track of ammunition, lamp oil, or whether a character has a flint and steel or waterskin. However, some specific, rare, and valuable items should be noted individually. For many Jäger these are holy relics, precious items passed down from beloved mentors, or other objects of considerable value and history. Such items are treated as Extras and often use the Weapon and Armour rating system, though they may also serve other uses and could be used to create situation aspects and the like.

Ammunition can potentially be swapped or distributed between individuals, but all ammunition and other "Consumable" items marked below have the Scarce Resources aspect, which GMs are encouraged to compel at the worst possible time, especially after any large expenditure of ammunition. This persists until a new source of ammunition can be acquired.

Each Jäger begins with 3 items of Special Equipment selected from the list below:

Aspen Stake – Although any stake is useful against vampir, an aspen stake whose tree was nourished with holy water is especially effective. It counts as a Weapon:2 when employed against vampir or their spawn.

Blessed Bolts/Bullets (Consumable) – This ammunition has been sanctified with holy water and engraved with holy symbols. They count as a Weapon:1 when employed against any kind of undead.

Blessed Weapon – This melee weapon has been sanctified with holy water and engraved with holy symbols so that its blade bites at undead flesh. It counts as a Weapon:1 when employed against any kind of undead.

Cold Iron Bolts/Bullets (Consumable) – This ammunition of cold-forged iron harms Elben and other fairies. It counts as a Weapon:1 when employed against any kind of fair folk.

Cold Iron Horseshoe – Elben and other fairies cannot abide the touch of iron, and a cold iron horseshoe worn about the neck can provide protection against them. Fairies will prioritize other targets over someone warded with a cold iron horseshoe. It also endows the wearer with Armour:1 versus such creatures.

Cold Iron Weapon – This melee weapon of cold-forged iron harms Elben and other fairies. It counts as a Weapon:1 when employed against any kind of fair folk.

Crucifix – The most common holy symbol, the crucifix is effective against vampire and other Risen. Undead will prioritize other targets over someone warded with a crucifix. It also endows the wearer with Armour:1 versus undead.

Drudenfuss – The Drude’s Foot is a pentagram-like symbol used to deter druden, a common variety of nightmare-spawn. Druden will prioritize other targets over someone warded with a Drudenfuss. It also endows the wearer with Armour:1 versus druden.

Flamethrower (Consumable) – Many creatures, including undead, Elben, and Schrat, deeply dislike fire. This intricate flamethrower can fill a room with fire, burning up to three targets at once and setting alight to flammable materials. Its fuel, however, is quite heavy, and burns quickly. It counts as a Weapon:1 against any target not resistant to fire. The flamethrower can be used once per scene before its mechanism overheats, and the GM is especially encouraged to compel the Scarce Resources aspect when it seems appropriate (or simply inopportune).

Holy Water (Consumable) – A useful weapon against both Lesser and Greater Risen, holy water can only be produced from pure water sources that have been sanctified through sacred magic. It can be sprinkled across a threshold to deter foes, thrown as a grenade-like weapon, or used as a poison against the undead. Holy Water counts as a Weapon:1 when employed against undead.

Vampiric Blood (Consumable) – The blood of vampir has powerful healing properties. Consuming a vial of vampiric blood (or injecting it via syringe) allows a character to reduce a physical consequence by one level of severity. This ability can only be used once per session, as otherwise the character will begin the process of becoming a vampire themselves. Even with a single use, a character who has used vampiric blood automatically acquires the aspect Urge to Feed for the remainder of the session, becoming beset with vampiric urges. If they yield to such urges, the vampiric blood in their veins may continue to quicken and take hold.

Wolfssegen – The Wolfssegen is an apotropaic charm used to deter lupine horrors, most prominently including werewolves, though mundane wolves also dislike such charms. They are usually fashioned in the form of an amulet containing a tooth or claw taken from a wolf. Wolf-monsters will prioritize other targets over someone warded with a Wolfssegen. It also endows the wearer with Armour:1 versus wolves and wolf-monsters of all kinds.

Wolf Traps (Consumable) – These viciously toothed mechanical traps are the bane of wolves, though many creatures can fall afoul of them. Camouflaging one requires a Survival skill check which determines the difficulty of the obstacle a creature will face when using their Wits to spot it. When triggered such traps count as Weapon:1.

Silver Bolts/Bullets (Consumable) – Silver bolts or bullets are highly effective against both werewolves and hags, who are otherwise resistant to damage from conventional weapons. Silver bolts or bullets count as Weapon:1 when employed against such creatures.

Silver Weapon – Silver bladed weapons, such as swords or knives, are highly effective against both werewolves and hags, who are otherwise resistant to damage from conventional weapons. Silver melee weapons count as Weapon:1 when employed against such creatures.

Bestiary

Druden – One of the most common breed of nightmare-spawn, druden are a race of demonic creatures, all male, who delight in stalking, butchering, and consuming mortals. They assemble themselves into Wild Hunts astride fearsome mares. Though drudes are all roughly humanoid, each individual is highly unique, since each represents an individual nightmare made flesh, the corporealization of some individual’s nightly fear. Some are masses of scales and claws; others are monstrously beaked bird-headed things; others twitching, spidery-limbed monsters. Druden can be warded off by use of a Drudenfuss, or “Drude’s Foot,” a pentagram-symbol.

Hags – While witches are mortal practitioners of magic, the creatures known as hags are a different breed. They dwell throughout the Waking Dream, but are particularly concentrated in the Grimmwald. Appearing as grotesque old crones, they can often disguise themselves as beautiful women, or transform into animals. Hags are lairing creatures, and usually possess some fashion of magical hut or other residence, including houses fashioned from food – typically candy – or which can walk. Hags can reproduce with the aid of human men, producing either new hags – in the case of female children – or else malformed trolls and similar monsters.

Schrat – The monstrous schrat are satyr-like beings who dwell mostly in the depths of the Grimmwald. Unlike the pack-hunting, bloodthirsty, and maniacally frenzied druden, creatures known to sacrifice themselves in droves to bring down prey, schrat are solitary, cowardly, and cunning, luring their victims into seclusion before striking. Schrat are, in fact, not pure creatures of the Alptraum, but the degenerate, faun-like descendants of those who strayed into the Grimmwald and became lost, corrupted by the evil forest’s terrible magic. They are capable of interbreeding with humans, and sometimes employ magic to disguise themselves for such purposes. Very often schrat are the henchmen of more powerful Elben or other fair folk. Schrat are burned by cold iron and tend to be afraid of fire, but try to avoid all fights unless the odds seem distinctly in their favour.

Wiedergänger – The most numerous of the Lesser Risen, wiedergänger are revenants, a form of corporeal undead. They are formed from the corpse of one killed who has not been given last rites, whose soul was stained with venial sins at the time of death, and who is interred on unconsecrated ground or otherwise left to rot. While some fools hoping to prevent corpses from rising burn rather than bury them, such measures often lead the deceased to return as a vengeful ghost rather than a corporeal revenant. It is wiser, rather, to cut off the limbs of a cadaver, or slice its hamstrings, if it cannot be properly buried. Wiedergänger are bestial, shambolic creatures, though they retain some spark intelligence and can be surprisingly cunning. They possess an overwhelming desire to harm the living, though their specific obsessions vary; some merely mutilate the corpses of their victims, while others devour them. Like all undead, they cannot tread on consecrated ground, are deterred by the sign of the cross and other holy symbols, and burn when exposed to holy water.

Wolves – Wolves in Schreckenburg are not the mundane canine pack-hunters of the waking world, but ravenous beasts of considerable size and intelligence, bigger and badder than normal wolves. They infest the land in great numbers, with the greatest concentration in the Wolsfwald. Wolves are capable of speech and complex trickery and are renowned for their cruelty and insatiable appetites. Though most wolves are feral monsters, some are the servants of powerful vampir, and they often make pacts with werewolf clans. They deeply dislike Wolfssegen, though unlike werewolves they are not magically deterred by such symbols.

Scenarios

The Schädelbrück Horror (+1 starting Fate point for Nikolet) – One of Nikolet Lanztäl’s former colleagues at Schädelbrück’s university has written to the scholar-turned-Jägeryn. The letter speaks in vague terms of some exciting experiment gone wrong, hinting at potentially dire consequences should things not “be put right.” Should it be convenient, the colleague – a certain Doktor Baltasar Dressler, a metaphysician and alchemist of some renown – requests Niokolet’s assistance.

Ruinenlust – The Grey Church is looking to hire a group of Jäger to cleanse the ruin of Rosenmünster, an Abbey that long ago fell into disrepair after its wards failed and its inhabitants were slain or sired by the Blood Countess. The Church hopes to sanctify the ruins and restore holiness to them, but fear they may have become infested by the forces of darkness.

What Dwells Beneath – The folk of Knochendorf are desperate. Despite their wards and walls and fervent prayers, villagers are disappearing one by one. The town is dying, and the reclusive Hundhammer family remain shut in their manor, deaf to the pleas of those in the settlement below. If nothing is done, Knochendorf will soon be a ghost town.

Sisters of the Crimson Cowl (+1 starting Fate point for Lis) – The Crimson Cowl Jägerbund have contacted Lis. It seems that a group of their Jägeryn have gone missing in the depths of the Wulfswald on a Hunt. Wary of committing more of their numbers to seek the lost sisters, the Order has offered Lis and her band a handsome payment for their aid.

That's very gothic indeed. The usurpation of rational laws of nature by fairy tale aesthetics seems like a good match with the abstract rules of Fate. Hopefully I can join in when you get to run this game.

* You meet the New Age Retro Hippie* The New Age Retro Hippie lost his temper!* The New Age Retro Hippie's offense went up by 1!* Ness attacks!SMAAAASH!!* 87 HP of damage to the New Age Retro Hippie!* The New Age Retro Hippie turned back to normal!YOU WON!* Ness gained 160 xp.

Because my Fate GMing is exceptionally rusty, I'm probably going to do at least one session with just sparkletwist, or possibly sparkletwist and one other player, but if that goes well and everyone has fun I may run more games set in the same universe.

Thanks Weave! I think sparkletwist has a friend in mind for the first session but I will check, and you'd definitely be welcome in future sessions. Feel free to post a character if you'd like. We're using the standard Fate Core skill list but with a 20 point buy instead of the pyramid.

I haven't totally figured out how to deal with magic yet but I've been thinking about the Voidcallers system as a basis for accessing the Alptraum. I'll write more about this, but the "holy magic" that protects settlements and makes protective charms work is just another manifestation of the breach into the collective unconscious. Just as the nightmare-creatures and folkloric things are given flesh and form because people believe in and/or fear them, so do holy symbols function because people have faith they will (I shamelessly plundered this idea from C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, cross-pollinated with Angela Carter's The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman).

Freaking awesome. I love the setting and setup. Like the others, I would love to play, and have a few concepts brewing already. Would you like up to post here or private message you PC proposals?

You mention 19th century Austria: does that comport to technology? I'm generally trying to suss out what level of technological advancements exist. More specifically, I'm asking about firearm technology/availability for Jäger.

Somewhat related, what passes for contemporary fashion in these here parts?

Rose-of-Vellum

You mention 19th century Austria: does that comport to technology? I'm generally trying to suss out what level of technological advancements exist. More specifically, I'm asking about firearm technology/availability for Jäger.

Yeah, I'm imagining plenty of firearms, and weird steampunk machines too, though some of the technology might be semi-lost. Muskets, wheellocks, flintlocks, the occasional revolver.

The region is certainly not primarily industrial. I'm thinking of introducing a feral demon-train gone rogue Iron Council style that runs on fear, but there's no regular air or rail transport.

Rose-of-Vellum

Somewhat related, what passes for contemporary fashion in these here parts?

I'm picturing mostly central European peasant garb with extra holy symbols. For vampir, absurd, extravagant garments as if the 18th century collided with an S&M enthusiast, crazy Gothic flamboyance. For Jäger, I'm imagining a lot of Bloodborne/Brotherhood of the Wolf style longcoats. Anything that gets worn on Crimson Peak would not be out of place.

Essentially, take the wardrobe of your typical Hammer Horror film and throw in some dream-logic and surreal touches.